


Cheeseburger Baby

by breeisonfire



Series: TAG prompt fics [15]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 05:23:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeisonfire/pseuds/breeisonfire
Summary: akireyta asked "86 ("I got you a present."), anyone to John."





	Cheeseburger Baby

**Author's Note:**

> Cheeseburger Baby is a real place. And it is real good.

“I got you a present.”

John blinks, staring at the bag in Virgil’s hands. He’s been on Earth for about three hours and had been asleep when Virgil had knocked on his door. He’s not quite awake enough to process what’s happening.

He reaches out for the bag and opens it. The smell hits him and _hey_ , he’s awake now.

It’s a cheeseburger with extra pickles, but it’s not just any cheeseburger. It’s a cheeseburger from his all-time favorite burger joint: Cheeseburger Baby in Miami, Florida. He’s starving and reaches for it, but before he can get there, he pauses.

“Did you really go to Miami just to get me a cheeseburger?” he asks, now suspicious.

“Well, no, not just for that,” Virgil says, and he’s grinning now. “I dropped Gordon off, he’s doing that research dive, remember? And a burger sounded good. Welcome back to Earth, by the way.”

“I should come back more often, if this is what I get,” John says. He remembers now. Gordon’s going on a week-long research dive with some of his old colleagues from college. John had seen him for all of a half hour before he’d left.

Gordon had talked about it nonstop for the past three weeks. Honestly, he calls John a nerd, but give him anything to do with marine science and suddenly the kid’s ready to give a lecture. Unlike Gordon, John can appreciate the scientific spirit in his little brother without being a dick about it. _So there, Gordon_.

“Don’t let Grandma hear that,” Virgil says. “She’ll start bribing you down with cheeseburgers.”

John can’t answer around the bite he’s taken of the cheeseburger. It’s just as good as he remembered it being. He hasn’t had one in a while, as busy as he’s been between International Rescue and the lectures he’s been doing for NASA and MIT. He wouldn’t have had been able to get it this time, either, if Virgil hadn’t got it for him.

“What’s the occasion?” he asks when he’s halfway through the burger.

Virgil shrugs. “You were looking a little rundown. More than usual, I mean.”

John pauses. It’s true that he’s feeling a little more tired than normal, but he’d thought he’d hidden it pretty well. Promises to Scott and Grandma to get a little more sleep, waving off Alan’s question or Gordon’s not-so-offhanded comment.

Virgil hadn’t mentioned it. He should have known better than to think Virgil hadn’t noticed.

It’s not worth it to argue, especially not with Virgil. “I’m just tired.”

“Problems sleeping?” Virgil asks, dropping into the chair at John’s desk. John perches on the edge of his bed, the hamburger still in his hands. He shrugs.

“Problems turning my mind off,” he admits. “My schedule’s been screwed up for a while now. I just need to get back into a rhythm.”

“How’s that going for you?”

“Not well,” John says, tossing his napkin in Virgil’s general direction. It misses, landing on the floor by Virgil’s foot. “Go be smug somewhere else.”

“I can’t, you’re the only one here,” Virgil says. “Except Grandma, but I don’t have a death wish.”

John hides his smile by taking another bite of the burger. It really is the best. He makes short work of the rest of it.

“Thanks, by the way,” he says once he's finished.

Virgil shrugs. “No problem. Get some rest, okay? Don’t give Scott a reason to go smother hen on us.”

“We can set him on Alan,” John says.

“Alan would never forgive us,” Virgil grins.

“Call it plan B,” John says, pushing himself up the bed and getting beneath the blanket. “Good night, Virgil.”

“‘Night, John.”


End file.
